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History of Organic Farming in America
By Anneliese Abbott
Organic History
Blog


Sir Albert Howard's Version of Agricultural History
Organic farming has always questioned the progressive narrative of history. It has to. After all, if the progressive narrative is true,...

Anneliese Abbott
Jun 27, 20243 min read


Why the Anti-Organic Historical Narrative Is Progressive
History is storytelling, and there are different types of narratives that can be used to frame a historical event. Last week, I...

Anneliese Abbott
Jun 20, 20242 min read


Storytelling and History: Why Narratives Matter
One of the most important things I learned in graduate school was that history is storytelling—and that there are different ways to tell...

Anneliese Abbott
Jun 13, 20243 min read


What Really Happened? How the Pandemic Changed My View of History
When I first started writing about the past, I had lofty ideals. My goal was simple—to find the truth and tell it. I often wished that it...

Anneliese Abbott
Jun 6, 20243 min read


Long Hair, Love, and Organic Farming: Euell Gibbons and the Counterculture
One stereotype of the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s was that young people didn’t listen to—or trust—anyone over thirty. That may...

Anneliese Abbott
May 23, 20243 min read


Foraging and Farming: Are They Mutually Exclusive?
As I write this, the wild pin cherry trees are just finishing blooming, white petals drifting down to the ground in a fragrant snow. The...

Anneliese Abbott
Apr 25, 20243 min read


Toxic Labs: Why I Don't Have a Graduate Degree in Plant Science
Note: Everything in this post is true, but I have omitted the name of the professor and the research institution to protect everyone...

Anneliese Abbott
Apr 18, 20243 min read


Torturing the Data Reprise: Grant Proposals
Note: Everything in this post is true, but I have omitted the name of the professor and the research institution to protect everyone...

Anneliese Abbott
Apr 11, 20243 min read


Lab Culture: Inside an Agricultural Research Lab Group
Note: Everything in this post is true, but I have omitted the name of the professor and the research institution to protect everyone...

Anneliese Abbott
Apr 4, 20243 min read


Torturing the Data: How to Make Sure Your Scientific Research is Significant
I loved science when I was a kid—especially biology. I loved learning more about nature, going out in the woods to look at plants and...

Anneliese Abbott
Mar 28, 20243 min read


Peanut Butter Decomposition: My Successful C:N Ratio Experiment
Six years after my failed pot fertility experiment at OSU, it happened again. The instructor for my Soil Microbiology class at the...

Anneliese Abbott
Feb 8, 20243 min read


Perils of Permaculture: Why the C:N Ratio of Mulch Matters
Fresh out of my first year of agronomy classes, I was excited to do my first internship at an organically managed CSA. My job at the...

Anneliese Abbott
Feb 1, 20243 min read


Sterile Organics? Pitfalls of "Organic" Greenhouse Research
I’ll admit it. My first attempt at designing an “organic” fertility experiment was a complete failure. When I started my forages class at...

Anneliese Abbott
Jan 18, 20243 min read


Year-End THANKSgiving: 2023 in Review
If, like me, you get emails from nonprofit organizations, your inbox is probably filling up this week with calls for year-end giving. But...

Anneliese Abbott
Dec 28, 20232 min read


Not By Bread Alone: Why I Have Peace This Christmas
This year, we had a wonderful bumper crop of almost every vegetable in our garden. For months, our hallway and entryway were full of...

Anneliese Abbott
Dec 21, 20233 min read


How Would Bromfield Farm in 2015? A Modern Malabar Farm Tour
Korre Boyer, the park manager at Malabar when I visited in 2015, reminded me a lot of my fellow agronomy students at Ohio State. He was...

Anneliese Abbott
Nov 30, 20232 min read


The Malabar Farm Barn Mural
As I walked past the big barn at Malabar Farm with Tom in 2015, I was surprised and pleased to see a freshly painted mural on the barn...

Anneliese Abbott
Nov 27, 20233 min read


Inside the Big House at Malabar Farm
Tom Bachelder is passionate about Malabar Farm. After retiring from his career as an art teacher at the Mansfield Public Schools, Tom...

Anneliese Abbott
Nov 20, 20233 min read


The Hills of Ohio: My First Visit to Malabar Farm
I knew I was getting close to Malabar Farm when I started to see hills. Before I took my first visit to Malabar Farm in 2015, I had spent...

Anneliese Abbott
Nov 13, 20232 min read


If I Did an Oral History: A Biographical Interview with Anneliese Abbott
When I do oral history interviews with people, I always ask off the recording if they have any questions for me. And what they usually...

Anneliese Abbott
Sep 29, 20233 min read
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